Israeli guards takes position at the entrance to HaSharon (Rimonim) high security prison, some 40 kilometers northeast of Tel Aviv, on February 23, 2014, after an American-Israeli prisoner serving life for murder was shot dead after he seized a gun and opened fire on three guards, before barricading himself in a prison bathroom. Samuel Sheinbein was killed when elite troops entered the bathroom at Rimonim prison to bring the situation to an end. AFP PHOTO / JACK GUEZJACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Photo: Jack Guez, AFP/Getty Images

Israeli guards takes position at the entrance to HaSharon (Rimonim)...

Israeli special forces raided a prison in central Israel on Sunday after an inmate stole a gun and wounded several guards, killing the notorious prisoner who was serving time for a gruesome murder carried out in the United States.

Police identified the inmate as Samuel Sheinbein, an American who fled to Israel after killing and dismembering a man in Maryland in 1997 and whose case sparked a high-profile dispute between the two allies.

Police rushed to Sharon Prison after Sheinbein shot three guards, wounding two of them seriously. He then barricaded himself inside the compound, with counterterrorism units dispatched to the scene. The inmate opened fire again, wounding three more guards, before officers fatally shot him, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Hospital officials said one of the wounded guards was fighting for his life.

Sheinbein, 34, was tried in Israel in 1999, two years after he fled to the country and successfully sought refuge from extradition, enraging Maryland authorities and briefly threatening U.S. aid to the Jewish state.

An Israeli court sentenced Sheinbein to 24 years for his slaying and dismemberment of 19-year-old Alfred Enrique Tello Jr. Sheinbein was 17 at the time of the killing and could have faced a life sentence in Maryland.

His extradition to Maryland was blocked by an Israeli law that was changed after the incident.

Sheinbein, of Aspen Hill, Md., confessed to strangling Tello with a rope and hitting him several times with a sharp object. Sheinbein then dismembered the body with an electric saw and burned it, authorities said.

Sheinbein fled to Israel days after Tello's remains were found. He obtained refuge under a law that prevented the extradition of Israeli citizens to foreign countries. Sheinbein had had only passing contact with Israel, but his father was born in the country and Sheinbein qualified for Israeli citizenship.

Israel's refusal to extradite Sheinbein prompted protests from senior U.S. officials, including then-Attorney General Janet Reno.